Session Date: 09/30/2024
Orson’s Cabin
Mary ponders the wound and realizes that the wound was made with a knife of some kind, but not something so large as a dagger. She wonders if perhaps he took a meal in his car, and it doesn’t appear to be the case. She looks around and finds a notebook with a page that had been written and torn off, so she asks Faylen about it and he uses a charcoal to rub the page to figure out what it says, and it says I know who you are.
It’s likely the case that Orson Mirkwood wrote this and passed it to someone, possibly trying to blackmail him. Bosch shows up at this point and comments that it sounds juicy, then asks who’s being blackmailed. Faylen says that we need to figure that out, and Bosch grabs the page to look at it, asking (confirming) what it said.
Tabby suggests that perhaps it was Kristov in a desperate attempt to keep his job with the mining company, but we have no evidence except Tabby’s hunch.
Mary is still bothered as she thinks about the knife, and Tabby mentions how unsettling it is that the lizardfolk guard didn’t smell any blood on the corpse. Bosch does bring up the fact that we did get the potions to suppress our scent from some kobolds to get around the werewolves, which is an incredibly good point.
Dining Car
Bosch decides we should talk to Garga the Appetizing because he certainly would know kitchen knives, so we agree to go and talk to him because it is at least a lead. We find him eating food and complaining about the meal. Mary asks what he would do different and he talks at incredible length about specific locations and prime ingredients, and Mary realizes that it would make the cost of the meals absolutely ridiculous.
Mary leads by commenting he must know much about lives, and Garga explains that he knows a lot about kitchen knives, and Mary asks about long and thin knives. Tabby tries to bait him into a long lecture about knives, which doesn’t really work. Garga comments that the knives are pretty good here, and Mary glances down at the table. The knives are pretty decent, but pushed to the side. Garga is using his own set of cutlery, his own spices, basically his own kit.
Bosch returns from the kitchen with a small bowl of snacks. Bosch asks what to do if a dish is too spicy, and he sputters until he decides to help. We notice that he has salt, pepper, and a third thing that is sometimes used in magic - it’s an “anti-spice” per se. Faylen recognizes that it’s sometimes used in magic spells. It removes the flavoring out of food so that you can check the texture of items.
Bosch asks if perhaps the murderer could have borrowed or stolen the spices from him, and he sputters a little and says of course not. He hesitates, then says that it is possible that someone might have gotten into his bags. As he sees this, Mary notices that he’s nodding as if he’s remembering something. Mary prompts and asks if something went missing, and he says that he isn’t sure, anyone could have gotten into his bags.
Faylen thinks about the “anti-spice” and tries to recall where it’s used. It’s used in lab conditions to essentially make sure that the other reagents are stable and up to snuff. It neutralizes certain properties and features of items, but he isn’t so sure how well it works with smell. Faylen starts to distract Garga by letting him talk about himself and Bosch tries to take some of the anti-taste powder.
Our Cabin
We make it back to our car and ask Talitha to see if the blood has any scent after adding the powder. She tries, but isn’t sure. Zada Nix pokes her head in and asks what we’re doing, and Bosch eventually mentions that we’re trying to see if this powder covers the scent of blood. Zada offers her surfaces and tells us that the powder doesn’t do anything for the smell, but Faylen is rather healthy. She explains that she doesn’t like the idea of someone being murdered on the train, and Faylen gets the vibe that she’s being incredibly polite but he doesn’t get the feeling that she’s the one that committed the murder.
We share what we know about all of this from Zada. Bosch suggests that she looks over Orson to see if she can identify what’s weird with the blood, and Bosch eventually drags her over to the crime scene.
Crime Scene
Faylen notices Besso Tunnelly and grabs him to drag him with them back to the crime scene - he is less than pleased.
We make it to the crime scene and she agrees that she can’t smell any blood. She takes the bowl from Bosch with the powder, and tells us to turn around. Faylen and Bosch hears her sigh, kneel, do something with the body, and then it sounds as if she might have put a finger in the bowl. She hands the bowl back and she mentions that the blood has different properties than what the powder does.
She returns the bowl and asks if there’s anything else she can help with. The wound is mentioned and Zada explains that it wouldn’t be a normal piece of cutlery, for sure. Bosch works on taking the sheet off of the bed.
In this conversation, Mary recalls that during the conversation with Garga, there was a whole couch with different items - spoons, forks, etc - and he had, a specialist cook’s tool kit on him at all times. There are likely magical cooking cutlery/artefacts on him.
Mary asks about what she did, and Zada says that it is embarrassing. Bosch says that we are all friends here, unless she’s the one that murdered Orson, then we aren’t all friends. Zada says that she is not a murderer and has never killed anyone, and Bosch says that’s fine then, and we are friends.
Catching Garga
Bosch is packing up the sheet and looks for a tall item and a round item to create a bedsheet ghost. He sets up somewhere to intercept Garga, making the ghost come up menacingly behind Garga and saying - in a creepy voice - I know who you are!
Garga pulls out a knife and Besso comments that this is interesting. Faylen asks him what he sees, and Besso explains that he’s familiar with people who know how to fight and it’s very clear that Garga has been in a scrap before. Garga does try to stab at the ghost, and goes too high to hit Bosch. Bosch grapples him and tries to disarm him, failing, and Faylen tries to cast paralyze on him, not quite taking. Tabby manages to tumble through and then disarm him.
Garga admits to it once the jig is up and says that he’s the one that murdered Orson, and that he’s part of the mob. He starts rambling and admitting to everything, and he just will not stop talking about being in the mob and committing the murder.
Orson learned that he was part of the mob in Brex Grana. There was meant to be a deal of some kind, but the man that Garga was meant to deal with died. Onabelle isn’t sure what happened in Brex Grana, and asks us if we knew what was going on there and Mary gives a 3 sentence version. Orson was going to blackmail Garga because he was on his way out with the mining company, but Garga decided to kill him before that could happen.
The Aftermath
We all sit around and Zada orders us a round of beer, though she doesn’t drink herself. Bosch asks about her parasol and Zada says that it is an aid of a type, allowing her to exist in certain conditions. We don’t ask for more details.
Jorj’ia is doing a stand up routine as we celebrate that the murderer was caught.
Serapion finally gets into his meditation and his mind starts to expand and his third eye starts to open. There is a deep rumbling and shake that everyone on the train feels, and the conductor hollers out that there’s a dragon on the tracks. Serapion sighs and opens his eyes and says “damn it,” in frustration.